with these crucial issues about the fiscal cliff, the question of the budget, and taxes and as i mentioned, senior citizens being able to see a doctor, those are crucial issues, but this legislation, the fisa amendments act, is also a crucial piece of legislation, and that is why senators will be offering amendments in order to strike the best possible balance between security and liberty. now, when the foreign intelligence surveillance act, often known, mr. president, as fisa, senators and those listening will hear that discussion almost interchangeably, the abbreviated name is fisa. and when it was written in 1978, congress applied justice brandeis' principles to intelligence gathering. the congress said when they wrote the original fisa legislation in 1978, they really said that justice brandeis, you know, got it right with respect to how you ought to gather intelligence. so the original fisa statute stated that if the government wants to collect an american's communications for intelligence purposes, the government must go to a court, show evidence that the american is a terrorist or a